David Malukas, who lost his seat at Arrow McLaren after he was injured in a preseason mountain bike crash, will return to IndyCar and drive for Meyer Shank Racing starting later this month.
Malukas will take over the No. 66 car for the rest of the season beginning at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on June 23, the team announced Friday. Prior to that, Malukas will drive an Indy car for the first time since his injury in a test session at Milwaukee Speedway on Tuesday.
“It feels amazing just from a mental standpoint,” Malukas said. “With everything that’s happened, getting back in a car is obviously the best thing for me. I think just overall I can actually go out there and show myself again and the performance that I can give.”
Malukas was dropped by Arrow McLaren on April 29. He did not start a race for the team after suffering a dislocated his wrist and torn tendons in his bike crash. McLaren initially expected Malukas to miss only two races. He instead missed four straight races, triggering a clause in his contract that allowed McLaren to terminate the deal. Théo Pourchaire, a 20-year-old from France, took over for Malukas as the driver of McLaren’s No. 6 Chevrolet.
The 22-year-old Malukas said his hand has healed well enough for him to race again. Malukas was was wearing a compression glove on his left hand Friday.
“We’ve already been on the Honda simulator and had no issues there,” Malukas said.
Malukas said he visited a doctor shortly after McLaren’s announcement and was told his hand had healed, though he noted that still didn’t mean he was ready to race again at that point. Callum Ilott ran the Indianapolis 500 in his place.
“I was healed, but I couldn’t move my hand at all,” Malukas said. “It was all stiff and very weak. There’s still a lot of PT I had to do. … I’d say by the end of May was when the hand was ready to go.”
Tom Blomqvist had started the first five races of the season in the No. 66 car but was dropped after crashing on the first turn of the first lap of the Indianapolis 500 last month. Helio Castroneves, a part-owner of the team and four-time Indy 500 champion, will be in the car for Sunday’s race at Road America.
“This whole process has been extremely difficult on myself and [team co-owner] Jim Meyer,” Mike Shank said in a statement. “There were so many things for us to consider as we need to do everything we can to make up ground in the championship and Leader Circle standings. We are pleased to have David join us as he has both experience and potential and we are looking forward to having him join us starting in Milwaukee for the test and then going racing with him at Laguna.”
Blomqvist won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in consecutive years and the IMSA championship for Meyer Shank and “remains part of the MSR family,” the team said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Source: www.espn.com